Art and science of crowd control

The Sivakasi Syndrome still stalks India. The little township, which accounts for 95 percent of India’s consumption of fireworks in a $400 million business, was mute witness to its produce causing the deaths of 110 people and rising in the Paravur temple in Kerala. While the investigation will show that many people died in the stampede following the explosion triggered by an errant cracker that set ablaze a mountain of magnesium and potassium nitrate and sulfur.
Of the 750 shops that produce this stuff several are unlicensed. Sivakasi itself was the center of a blaze in 2012 that caused 70 deaths when an illegal manufacturer inadvertently tinder-boxed his supply.
With no quality control as such, second rate and short- fused crackers enter the market. Add to that the chaotic conditions in places of worship, during festivities and religious occasions. The fact is that we are not practiced in crowd control. Crowd control is now science and an art but even though we have over 4,000 events across the country annually where over 100,000 people congregate the police are untrained and the facilities are primitive and temporary.
The moment an incident occurs and panic spread, a stampede gains momentum. As people scramble to escape the elderly, the young and women lose their balance and pile on each other creating a blockade. This is then trampled upon by others fleeing. If it is dark and there is a fire or smoke, the deaths increase exponentially.
Control behavioral expert based in the US Daniel Pink has done several studies on “EXIT” systems and his contention is that fear and panic are the two ignitions to disaster. But you cannot do much about human feelings under stress unless you have systems and skill in place.
You need the skills of support teams who know how to spot hazards and start organized evacuation. It is a lot more than barriers and signage, which is largely questionable. It is time to create a new paramilitary force that specializes in crowd control and saves lives.
And what is done in the aftermath? Nothing. The chief minister of the affected state expresses shock and horror and promises an ex gratia payment. The central government echoes the sadness of the loss.
The bureaucrats who approved the festivities wash their hands of responsibility. A judge is pulled out of retirement and made chairman of a committee whose report, like Father Mackenzie’s sermon, no one will read. Life goes on.
And this will keep happening because the powers that be so completely fail to understand that they have no clue how to handle crowds. Nor do they have stringent rules enforced in fire safety and emergency measures. How many of the men and duty at the temple have done a course in crowd science?
Seriously, look how far the world has advanced. The Yale Scientist has this to say: “Dr. Paul Torrens, Associate Professor of Geographical Sciences at the University of Maryland, has developed a technology that can help control crowds and avert calamities.
Torrens’s work lies at the forefront of geosimulation, which uses computer programs to model how agents interact with geographic environments. He simulates the behavior of human crowds in various locations such as city streets, movie theaters, and open fields. By recreating these scenarios using computer modeling, Torrens can work with many crowd-related situations that cannot be tested in real life, such as a crowd running away from a burning car or escaping a collapsing building…”
And they hope to get somewhere with a cop and a bamboo rod.